1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable terminal device installing browser having a bookmark function to record a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of a Web server being connected over an internet telecommunication network for reuse of the URL.
The present application claims priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-058109 filed on Mar. 5, 2003, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a portable cellular phone and/or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) become highly functional, a browser function for the Internet that had been conventionally used in a fixed terminal such as a desktop computer or a like can be now achieved on a portable information terminal. This enables a user to obtain information from other servers through the Internet by using the browser function installed in a portable terminal device even while the user is out or is moving. Moreover, service employing such the information distributing system is becoming substantial (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2000-187666).
However, in a portable terminal device such as a portable cellular phone or a like, unlike in the case of a desktop computer being equipped with an upper inputting unit such as a keyboard and a mouse and with a high resolution display or a like, an inputting device and/or a screen display being used by a user are limited in size. Due to this, the portable terminal device has a problem in that it takes time and labor to enter characters or to perform an operation of software.
In normal cases, the browser supports a bookmark function. That is, this is a function that, in order to save a user time and labor of inputting a URL each time, by recording, in advance, a URL having a high use frequency, a user can specify the URL when the recorded URL is to be displayed next time, only by selecting a targeted URL from a list of URLs being already recorded.
In the case of a terminal such as a portable cellular phone that requires much time and labor of inputting characters, the bookmark function described above is of importance. However, when the number of recorded URLs increases, a portable terminal device having its screen being small in size presents a problem in that URLs that can be displayed in one screen are limited in number and it takes much time to search for a targeted URL.
To solve this problem, conventional technology is proposed in which, by sorting URLs to be displayed on a screen, a targeted URL can be more easily searched for (Japanese Patent Application Nos. Hei 10-34120, 2000-187666, 2002-288199, and 2002-539559). The above technology can be achieved by sorting URLs in order of close reference frequency or close reference time. Moreover, order of displaying URLs is set according to designation of a user so that a targeted URL can be easily searched for.
Moreover, the applicant of the present invention could not find any reference of prior art related to the present invention before the application of the present invention, except references on prior art technology to be specified by the prior art reference information described in the Specification of the present invention.
There are cases in which, depending on a state in which a browser function is used in a portable terminal device, various URLs having high use frequency are available. However, in the conventional technology, order in which URLs are displayed on a screen is in a same state even if each of the URLs is used in a different use environment and a state in which URLs to be displayed are sorted is not fit for a use state.